Grinding tool

ABSTRACT

A grinding tool operable with single hand includes a housing capable of standing upright, a lever, a one-way mechanism, and a grinding mechanism; the lever has an inner end formed with gear teeth, and is pivoted to the housing, and biased outwardly of the housing by a spring to be capable of being pushed and released repeatedly; the one-way mechanism has an actuating gear engaging the inner end of the lever, and a one-way bearing; the actuating gear is engaged with the bearing for causing angular displacement of the bearing together with it only when it is turned in a first direction by means of pushing the lever inwardly of the housing; the grinding mechanism includes an inner wheel turnable together with the bearing, and a stationary outer wheel around the inner wheel so that the contents can be ground between the wheels when the lever is pushed and released repeatedly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a grinding tool, more particularly one,which is made for use in an upright position according to ergonomicsprinciples so as to be relatively easy to take hold of, convenient andeasy to use, and capable of grinding the contents thereof more smoothly.

2. Brief Description of the Prior Art

Referring to FIG. 10, a prior grinding tool was disclosed on a patentapplication, “PEPPER GRINDING TOOL WITH A SIDEWAYS LEVER OPERATED WITHONE HAND” with application Ser. No. 09/948,911, with U.S. Patent andTrademark Office by the inventor of the present invention.

The grinding tool includes a housing, a lever, a one-way member, and agrinding assembly.

The housing includes an upper housing part 3 and a lower housing part 4joined to the upper housing part 3; the upper and the lower housingparts 3 and 4 each has a first portion, and a second elongated portionprojecting sideways from the first portion; the second elongatedportions of the housing parts form a lateral opening between them.

The lever 5 has teeth 51 on a front end, and is pivoted to the housingat an intermediate portion thereof with the teeth 51 facing the firstportions of the upper and the lower housing parts 3 and 4, and with arear portion thereof being biased outwardly of the lateral opening ofthe housing by a first spring 52 connected to both the lever 5 and oneof the second portions of the housing parts 3 and 4.

The one-way member 6 is received in angularly displaceable manner in thefirst portions of the housing. The one-way member 6 has a round mainbody 61 having teeth on an outer side abutting the teeth 51 of the lever5. The main body 61 is connected in selectively engaged manner to a tube62; the main body 61 will be engaged with the tube 62 for angulardisplacement therewith in a first direction responsive to the lever 5being pushed inwardly of the second portions of the housing parts 3 and4; the main body 61 will be disengaged from the tube 62 for angulardisplacement relative thereto in a second direction opposing the firstdirection responsive to the lever 5 being reversibly displaced from thepushed position by means of the spring 52.

The grinding assembly includes an outer grinding element 71 secured inthe first portion of the lower housing part 4, and an inner grindingelement 72 received in angularly displaceable manner in the outergrinding element 71. The inner grinding element 72 is connected to alower end of the tube 62 so as to turn relative to the outer grindingelement 71 when the elongated portion of the housing is held in a laiddown horizontal position with one hand, and the lever 5 is pushedinwardly of the second portion of the housing and released repeatedly.

The grinding tool is found to have disadvantages as followings:

-   -   1. Because the grinding tool can only be put away in a laid down        position, the outer end of the elongated portion of the housing        is prone to be undesirably made to touch the table when the        grinding tool is put on the table. Consequently, it is not        convenient for the user to take hold of the grinding tool from        the laid down position.    -   2. The user is likely to have a sore wrist after having been        operating the grinding tool for extended period of time because        he has to operate the tool while holding it in a laid down        position.    -   3. Pepper corns contained in the housing have to pass through        the one-way member before they pass into the grinding assembly,        and in turns, working of the one-way member will be made less        smooth by the pepper corns.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a main object of the present invention to provide a single-handoperated grinding tool to overcome the above disadvantages.

The grinding tool includes a housing capable of standing upright on thetable, a lever, a one-way mechanism, and a grinding mechanism. Theone-way mechanism has a actuating gear engaged with a toothed end of thelever, and a one-way bearing; the actuating gear is engaged with theone-way bearing for angular displacement of the bearing together with itonly when it is turned in a first direction by means of pushing thelever inwardly of the housing. The grinding mechanism includes an innerwheel turnable together with the bearing, and a stationary outer wheelaround the inner wheel so that the contents can be ground between thewheels when the housing is held in substantially upright position, andwhen the lever is pushed and released repeatedly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be better understood by referring to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section of the grinding tool according to thepresent invention,

FIG. 2 is another vertical section of the grinding tool according to thepresent invention,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the grinding tool according to thepresent invention,

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the upper and the lowerbodies of the present grinding tool, separated from each other,

FIG. 5 is a view showing the operation of the grinding tool according tothe present invention,

FIG. 6 is a vertical section of the grinding tool in the secondembodiment,

FIG. 7 is another vertical section of the grinding tool in the secondembodiment,

FIG. 8 is a vertical section of the grinding tool in the thirdembodiment,

FIG. 9 is another vertical section of the grinding tool in the thirdembodiment, and

FIG. 10 an exploded perspective of the prior grinding tool as describedin the Background.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a preferred embodiment of a grinding tool in thepresent invention includes a housing, a lever 12, a one-way mechanism13, and a grinding mechanism 22.

The housing includes an upper body 1, and a lower body 2 releaseablyjoined to a lower end of the upper body 1. The upper body 1 has anelongated upper portion, and a transverse separating board 15 fixedlydisposed in a lower portion. The board 15 has an annular holdingprojection 141 formed on the middle, and an elongated hole 151 formedthereon. The upper body 1 has a transverse locating board 14 fixedlydisposed under the transverse separating board 15. The board 14 has anannular holding projection 141 formed on the middle thereof. The lowerbody 2 has a transverse locating portion 224 fixedly disposed therein, aholding room 21 above the transverse locating portion 224, and a lowerroom under the locating portion 224 for receiving the grinding mechanism22 therein. The locating portion 224 is formed in such a manner thatpepper corns in the holding room 21 can fall into the grinding mechanism22. To load the grinding tool with pepper corns, the upper body 1 isseparated from the lower body 2, and pepper corns are put into theholding room 21 of the lower body 2.

The lever 11 is pivoted to the upper body 1 at an intermediate portionthereof. An elastic element 12 is connected to both an upper end of thelever 11 and an upper end of the upper body 1 to bias the lever upperend away from the upper end of the upper body 1. The lever 11 is passedthrough the elongated hole 151 of the separating board 15 at a lowerend. The lower end of the lever 11 has a sector-shaped lower end 111,which is formed with gear teeth.

The one-way mechanism 13 includes a tube 131, an actuating gear 132 inthe form of a bevel gear, and a one-way bearing 133, and is received inbetween the boards 14 and 15 of the upper body 1; the one-way bearing133 is connected in selectively engaged manner to an annular inner sideof the actuating gear 132. In other words, the bearing 133 will turntogether with the actuating gear 132 when the actuating gear 132 isturned in a first direction by means of pushing the lever 11 close tothe upper end of the upper body 1 and then releasing the lever 11repeatedly, but the bearing 133 won't turn together with the gear 132when the actuating gear 132 is turned in a second direction opposite tothe first direction by means of releasing the lever 11 from the pushedposition. The tube 131 is securely connected to an annular inner side ofthe one-way bearing 133, and is passed into the annular holdingprojections 152 and 141 at two ends so as to be rotary between theboards 15 and 14. The tube 131 further has an axial hole 1311, which isformed with a polygonal cross-section.

The grinding mechanism 22 is received in the lower room of the lowerbody 2, and includes an outer grinding wheel 221 secured in position, aninner grinding wheel 222 received in angularly displaceable manner inthe outer grinding wheel 221, and a spring disposed between the locatingportion 224 and the inner wheel 222. A transmission shaft 223 isconnected to the inner grinding wheel 222. The shaft 223 is formed witha square cross-section at an upper end, and is passed into the axialhole 1311 of the tube 131. Thus, rotation of the tube 131 can be passedon to the inner grinding wheel 222 via the shaft 223, and the innergrinding wheel 222 will turn relative to the outer grinding wheel 221 insingle direction to grind the contents of the lower body 2 between itand the outer wheel 221 when the upper body 1 of the housing is heldupright with one hand, and the lever 11 is pushed close to the upper endof the upper body 1 and released repeatedly.

Referring to FIGS. 5, and 6, actuating gear 132 can be a face gearinstead of a bevel gear according to the second embodiment.

Referring to FIGS. 8, and 9, the lever 11 is formed with a curved lowerend 16 instead, which has spur gear teeth thereon, while a spur gear 17is arranged in the upper body 1 of the housing, and engages the spurgear teeth of the curved lower end 16. And, the spur gear 17 has acentral shaft 171, which is fitted into one-way bearings 133 at two endsthereof, and which is passed through, and fixed to a bevel gear 18. Thebevel gear 18 engages the actuating gear 132 so that rotation thereofcan be passed on to the actuating gear 132. Thus, the grinding tool ofthe third embodiment can work in the same way as the above embodiments.

From the above description, it can be easily understood that thegrinding tool of the present invention has advantages as followings:

-   -   1. Because the grinding tool can be put away on the table in an        upright position when it is not used, it is relatively easy and        convenient for a user to take hold of the grinding tool again.    -   2. The user operates the grinding tool when holding the tool in        the upright position therefore he is less likely to have a sort        wrist after having been operating the tool for extended period        of time.    -   3. Pepper corns are contained in the lower body therefore they        won't pass into the one-way mechanism 13 to hinder smooth        working of the one-way mechanism.

1. An improvement on a grinding tool, comprising a housing includes anupper body and a lower body releaseably joined to a lower end of theupper body; a lever having a sector-shaped lower end formed with gearteeth; the lever being pivoted to the upper body at an intermediateportion thereof; an upper end of the lever being biased away from anupper end of the upper body by a first elastic element connected to boththe lever and the upper body; a one-way mechanism received in angularlydisplaceable manner in the upper body of the housing; the one-way memberhaving an actuating gear abutting the gear teeth of the lever; theone-way mechanism having a one-way bearing connected to an annular innerside of the actuating gear; the one-way mechanism having a tube securelyconnected to an annular inner side of the one-way bearing; the actuatinggear being engaged with the one-way bearing for angular displacementtherewith in a first direction responsive to the lever being pushedclose to the upper end of the upper body; the actuating gear beingdisengaged from the one-way bearing for angular displacement relativethereto in a second direction opposing the first direction responsive tothe lever being reversibly displaced from the pushed position by meansof the first elastic element; and a grinding mechanism including anouter grinding wheel secured in a lower end of the lower body of thehousing, and an inner grinding wheel received in angularly displaceablemanner in the outer grinding wheel; the inner grinding wheel beingconnected to a lower end of the tube so as to turn relative to the outergrinding wheel to grind contents of the lower body therebetween when thehousing is held substantially upright with one hand, and the lever ispushed close to the upper end of the upper body and released repeatedly.2. The grinding tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper body ofthe housing has a transverse separating board in a lower end portion,and a transverse locating board under the transverse separating board;the boards having annular holding projections formed on middles thereof;the tube of the one-way mechanism being passed into the annular holdingprojections at two ends thereof.
 3. The grinding tool as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the tube of the one-way mechanism has an axial holeformed with a polygonal cross-section while a transmission shaft isconnected to the inner grinding wheel, and the tube at lower and upperends thereof respectively; the upper end of the transmission shaft beingformed with a square cross-section, and passed into the axial hole ofthe tube.
 4. The grinding tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein theactuating gear is a bevel gear.
 5. The grinding tool as claimed in claim1, wherein the actuating gear is a face gear.
 6. The grinding tool asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the lever is formed with a curved lower endinstead, which has spur gear teeth thereon, while a spur gear isarranged in the upper body of the housing, and engages the spur gearteeth of the curved lower end of the lever; the spur gear having acentral shaft fitted into one-way bearings at two ends thereof; thecentral shaft being passed through, and fixed to a bevel gear; theactuating gear being engaged with the bevel gear instead.